


Unchained Heart

by lanalucy



Category: Brandy (Song)
Genre: Gen, Happy Ending, No Romance, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-26
Updated: 2018-01-26
Packaged: 2019-03-09 01:15:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13470615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: Brandy walks through a silent town.Beta by the marvelous altitudeandwine.





	Unchained Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bethynyc](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bethynyc/gifts).



> I've been told this is neither romantic nor a happy ending. I'll let you decide.
> 
> I know you got something already in this fandom, but when I was scrolling through requests, this one spoke to me. I hope you don't mind a little something extra.

The walk home alone, unfettered and free, was her favorite part of the day. This time of year, the headwind off the ocean stung her face. The blanket of stars in the sky peeked in and out of the lace of scudding clouds.

Many years ago, this town had bustled non-stop, almost twenty-four hours a day. She'd been lucky to get one night in ten off from the bar; the docks stacked high with cargo had carried as many or more longshoremen, eager for a friendly face or a couple pints of beer. God, she'd been so young then. It felt like, as she'd grown up, the town had changed to suit her. She adored the small-town feel of it now.

She fingered the simple silver chain around her neck, one of many over the years. Though she'd imagined herself in love back then, forever-and-ever-amen, the tender feelings were exhausted within months of the sailor's departure, years before the locket and original chain would have gotten too worn to wear. That particular sailor had never come back, and she'd learned to be choosier over the years. Young love, she sighed. It never survives, but sometimes its death brings something so much better. 

Even if the sailor hadn't stuck, his chain had. His chain had changed everything.

Whenever she had a free moment back then, she'd doodled, drawing what she fancied as jewelry designs. At first, it had been her way of thinking about her sailor, but as time went on, the designs held more and more of her interest, and after about a year, she realized she hadn't thought about him for a couple of months. She fingered his chain and took it off, shoving it in her pocket.

One of the regulars, an older man named Harry off _Looking Glass_ , had admired her ability to work the chain into all her drawings. 

_Brandy glanced up. "Hey, Harry." His grizzled face was a welcome distraction._

_Harry smiled, mounted the stool, and plunked a sack down on the bar. "This, Brandy-girl, is for you."_

_Brandy unrolled the top of the paper bag and pulled a smaller paper sack out and opened it, all the while watching Harry through her lashes. What dropped into her hand was a roll of chain, so much prettier than the one the sailor had brought her so long ago. She unspooled some, the drift of it across her fingers like silk - soft and fine and somehow warm and cool at the same time._

_Another bag held a handful of colorful stones. She put one up in the tiny bar of sunshine filtering past the shade. She gasped as it came to life in her hands. After a moment, she closed her fist around the stone and shook her head._

_"I don't understand, Harry. Why bring this to me? These are the sort of things you offer a sweetheart!"_

_Harry ducked his head. "Well, it's not_ just _for you. I want you to make me somethin', Brandy. Somethin' a woman would like."_

_"Something a woman would like? Do you have a sweetheart you haven't told me about?"_

_"Mebbe. Mebbe so. And mebbe it's for my mama." He shoved the sack at her. "You gonna serve me or what, Brandy-girl?"_

_She poured his whiskey with a smile and slid it down the bar to him. While he nursed his first glass, as he always did, she scribbled ideas all over bar napkins. When she served his second glass, she put some of the designs down in front of him._

_Harry waved them away. "I trust ya, Brandy-girl. You've got an eye."_

_She learned and she drew. She crumpled up napkins, growling in frustration. She created from her designs, becoming discouraged after five or six came out all wrong. At last, she thought she had a solid design, and she worked it with the stuff Harry'd brought her - chains, stones, wires, and more; that big paper sack was like a beginning jewelry designer's heaven._

_This time, when Harry came in, Brandy wiped her hands on her apron and got out the gift box. She put it on the bar in front of his usual stool, then scurried for the office. She wanted to get the box she'd put the jewelry stuff in, but more, she was afraid to see Harry's face when he opened the box. When she came out of the office, Harry was still staring at the open box._

_Shit. He hated it. She slowed her steps, nervous fingers opening and closing on the bag. "Harry?"_

_He started, dropped the box on the bar, and strode toward her. "Brandy!" He picked her up and twirled her around. "It's perfect! I knew ya could do it!"_

_Relief shivered through her as she hugged Harry back. "You like it?"_

_"Brandy-girl, I love it! She'll lo-"_

_Brandy teased, "She?"_

_"Well, that's the thing, Brandy-girl." He tossed a grin over his shoulder as he went back to his barstool. "I've found myself a helluva woman, and I'm retiring from the sea to marry her!"_

_Brandy's throat tightened, and tears crept into her eyes._

_Harry smacked his hand on the bar and picked up the box again. "No crying, Brandy-girl. This is happy news."_

_"I...I know. I'll just miss seeing you."_

_"I'll be back, doncha worry none. And next time I come through, my new bride can tell you herself how much she liked her wedding gift."_

_Brandy's hands covered her mouth. "It's a - it's a wedding gift? Harry. I had no idea. It's not good en-"_

_"Nonsense. It's perfect, exactly the sort of thing I've seen her wear, in fact."_

_Stunned, Brandy stooped to pick up the sack she'd dropped, and put it on the bar._

_Harry shoved it back at her. "Nope. You keep it. Like I said, you've got an eye, and I doubt this'll be the last piece of jewelry a sailor asks you to make!"_

Harry had not been wrong.

She'd made more - earrings, bracelets, pins, pendants, hair decorations. A piece here or there under the glass at the register, then a series of similar pieces glittering in their own display case on the wall. 

She made enough to buy the bar from Frank's widow when he died. When shipping moved north to the bigger harbor, and the bar slowed down too much to remain viable, she converted to a workshop and artists' space. She'd met Tandy there. She quivered, remembering their first date. Everything she'd thought she'd felt for that sailor was nothing compared to how she still felt with Tandy.

In the decades since that space had opened, she'd adapted to the changing economy, getting pictures of her work online, opening a digital storefront, and now, her own shipping team of three kept busy ten hours a day, six days a week.

Harry'd be wanting a new piece for his wife next month. She'd better refine her ideas and find out if he had a gemstone preference this year. 

She stopped and looked back for a moment, the wind ruffling her hair. _Brandy Tillson, Proprietress_ , the sign read. _Established 1974_. The thrill she always got seeing her name up there shot through her and she let it settle. She smiled, turned the corner, and headed for home. Tandy had stew waiting.

**Author's Note:**

> In response to the Yuletide request/prompt: The song ends with “Brandy walks through a silent town. She loves a man, who’s not around. She still can hear him say…” and then the chorus. I would like for Brandy to have a happy ending, and I’m not really picky about how she gets it. Really, there are SO MANY possibilities open to her, that I want her to grab life by the neck and live it! I want her to be happy. Whether that involves the man she loves or not is up to you. I want to be surprised with this!


End file.
